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Topic: They're Here! (Read 694 times)

Went up to Better Bee in Greenwich yesterday and picked up my package (about 2 1/2 hr. one way. Our Son-in-law went with us and picked up 2 packages.

Installed in the early afternoon and all went well even though we had some gusting south wind preceding a storm front.

Wife took pictures and told me later about all the bees around me! No silly protection, no stings.

Huge grin walking away!

Funny side - a couple evenings ago I finally got around to trying out the smoker. Lit easily and produced an amazing amount of smoke for 45 minutes on only a couple sumac pods. Yesterday I couldn't get the darn thing lit for lonr and went out in just a couple minutes! I guess the piece of newspaper I was using for ignition had picked up moisture in the garage over night.

Any way, I sprayed a little syrup on the package sides and everyone was happy.

In a couple hours, the stragglers who ended up on the ground in front of the hive and those few remaining in the box had gone inside.

Cold this morning and added some more syrup to the top feeder. A lot of bees getting breakfast.

This is my first involvment with bees. Really great experience so far.

Many thanks to all who post here with such a wealth of information shared!

Yeah, waiting...I.ve been going by and watching to see if any have been venturing out. A few in flight but has been quite windy here today. Up to 19 mph gusts although the spot I have the hive in is fairly well protected from the north by a row of hemlock and pine. also temp between 39 this morning to 50 now.

Murphy's law of beekeeping says your smoker will stay lit when it's not being used on the bees. Light it to smoke the bees and it keeps going out. A new smoker needs to be lit and kept lit for several hours using pitchy wood or pine needles so that a layer of tar will build up inside, then it will stay lit. After awhile the problem will become keeping the tar buildup down to a reasonable level.

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